My
Guitar Gear Through The Years

My Guitar History

I have been playing the guitar in earnest since
1986. For my 16th birthday, my parents bought me my first
electric guitar and amplifier, a Peavey
T-15 and a Peavey Audition 110 amp. The T-15 was a
beginner, student sized electric, with 20 frets, and a 20" scale
length, and the amp, while small sounded great to me. I played
the guitar often, through headphones mainly, and used to love to
just look at this simple, well made instrument.

Before going to Hampshire College in the
fall of 1988, I bought an Epiphone
Sheraton II guitar at my local music store, to have
something nice to take to college. I had seriously considered
getting a Carvin DC100 guitar, but was leery of buying something
sight unseen. The Sheraton was beautiful, with gold hardware,
fancy abalone inlays, and that "Gibson semi-hollow" sound.
However, the guitar itself was not very good. The frets buzzed
everywhere, the bridge needed constant adjustment, and it would
never stay in tune. After my second year of college, I decided
that I was ready for a more high quality instrument. After
careful research and thought, and riding high on a strong
interest in Stevie Ray Vaughn, who died that summer, I bought a
Fender American Standard Stratocaster.
The Strat was my main guitar for 10 years (usually played
through a Fender Princeton Chorus amp). I also used to own a Guild Songbird acoustic guitar, which
is great to play around the house, but too quiet to keep up with
other instruments in an acoustic setting (I ripped out the
electronics years ago). See more about this instrument below.

In 1999, while working at Groton School, I joined an
all-teacher rock band. This is an .mp3
of our version of Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street".One
of the members acquired a couple of nice new guitars that year,
and I started thinking that for my upcoming 30th birthday, I
wanted a special guitar. My bandmate, John, turned me on to a
great website ran by a very interesting guy (who has since
deceased), Ed Roman.
John had bought his latest axes at Ed Roman's, and I just
couldn't stop reading his informative website filled with
provocative articles and lots of pictures of expensive guitars.
Ultimately, I decided to save Ed Roman as a backup plan, and
started looking very seriously at the latest offerings from
Carvin. The Carvin is my favorite
guitar, though I still suffer from G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition
Syndrome), and keep buying new gear. For instance, I've been
very pleased with some inexpensive instruments I've bought from
Rondo Music in New
Jersey.

I've begun using GarageBand
to make some rough multitrack recordings with my guitars.
Hopefully someday I can take these demos and fine tune them into
a real album. I've been posting my work on Soundclick.com a site for
internet users to upload their music. The name of the site is
the "Low
Standards", the name of one of my current projects . Check
out my tunes!

In the summer of 2007 I discovered a local
blues jam run on Wednesday nights at the Saloon in Wilkes-Barre.
Dan, the host (a/k/a/ "Big Daddy Dex") is a super guy. I went
about five times this summer, and it was really great to be able to play with musicians
who are far better than I am. Also, it was my first time
ever playing in front of an audience made up entirely of
strangers. It's different, but I far prefer playing for friends,
students and co-workers.

Writing about my once and future guitars has
made me think about all of the gear I have had through the
years. Here is a summary of all that I can remember:

Guitars:

Peavey T-15
guitar--I got this in 1986. It was a small guitar but it
sounded good through it's blade polepiece single coil pickups.
It had a very solid bridge, and a very pretty maple neck. My
cousin has it now. If you want a cute little electric for a
small person, or for Nashville stringing, look for one of
these in a pawnshop or online auction.

Epiphone Sheraton II guitar--I
got this around the time I graduated high school in 1988. That
same week my music teacher bought a ES-335 that had been
hanging right next to mine. The next lesson was a fun show and
tell! This guitar was absolutely beautiful, with great
sounding pickups, but not well made. It could never stay in
tune, the bridge was hard to intonate properly, and the pots
crackled. It made me (unjustly) suspicious of Korean made
guitars. I traded it for my Stratocaster in 1990.

Fender American Standard
Stratocaster--this is a great guitar, which has lasted
beautifully for many years. I expect to have it forever. I've
customized mine with Lace Sensor pickups and Tele style knobs
(bigger knobs help me do volume swells, a key part of my
technique). Based on the Fender serial number data, my guitar
was made in 1989 (but the neck is dated 1987). In 1995 I customized it, adding Telecaster
style chrome knobs (to match the "Pewter" paint job), and
three Lace Sensor pickups, a Silver in the neck, a Red in
the middle and a Gold in the bridge. When I realized
that Fender doesn't offer a Strat with this exact combination
of pickups, I signed my name to the headstock, and called it
the "Ethan
Lewis Signature Model". This Signature guitar is
a wonderful instrument, highly responsive acoustically, and
surprisingly heavy for a Strat. Not being able to solder, I
made some changes to the electronics simply by swapping the
pickups to different slots and reversing the 5-way
switch. Now it is configured to provide the following
options: Pos.1 is the Gold in the bridge; Pos. 2 is the Silver
in the neck plus the Gold in the bridge; Pos. 3 is the Silver
in the neck. In other words, I get the standard
Telecaster options with these three. Pos. 4 is the Red
in the Middle plus the Silver in the Neck. It is not
very "quacky", but it is a nice rhythm sound. Pos. 5 is
the Red in the middle. I've adjusted the height of this
pickup down low (which is contraindicated for Lace Sensors)
and it has a nice sound that punches through.In 2013 I
acquired two more of the Gold pickups, so now
it has 3 Gold Lace Sensors, and I really like how it sounds.

Guild Songbird
Acoustic--a very nice guitar, this super thin body
guitar (it is the size of a Les Paul) is totally hollow, and
is made of solid mahogany back and sides, with a solid spruce
top. You may have seen this guitar on TV, as Barry Gibb of the
Bee Gees uses a blue onstage. The guitar plays well, and
sounds very nice acoustically. It came with a piezo pickup,
and two knobs, but the knobs stuck out of the middle of the
upper bout of the guitar, and always stabbed me in the chest.
The electronics worked great (I once did a show with this
guitar, and used it for acoustic and "electric" numbers, but
after several years I decided to remove the electronics. This
guitar can't really keep up in a multiple acoustic guitar
setting, because the body is so shallow, but it is great for
playing around the house, and would be fine for recording.
Guild doesn't make them anymore, which is a shame. Based on my
reading of the Guild serial numbers, mine was the second
Songbird made in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1993. In 2007 I
sent the guitar to Guitars
For
Vets, a new charity based out of Wisconsin that puts
guitars in the hands of veterans suffering from physical or
psychological injuries.

Carvin DC-127--The
best guitar I've ever played. My new "Number 1", since August
of 2000. The neck-thru-body construction makes for a totally
heel-less joint with the body. You can play all the way to the
24th fret on this thing with ease. The Carvin pickups are
three-dimensional and clear, and both sound good either as
humbuckers or as split single coils, which is not always the
case. The locking Sperzel tuners make string changes a breeze,
and the guitar is always in tune. And it is hard to say enough
about the beauty of the quilted
maple top. It looks like a sheet of fire. I just love this guitar. Plus, it
has my name on it. I've previously written about my
experience buying from Carvin. The article is a bit long
in the tooth, but from what I can tell the process is still
identical.

Agile AL-2500 Goldtop--After
(John Paul) Jonesing for a Les Paul for over a year since
going gaga over the Led
Zeppelin DVD, I have purchased a very nice Korean Les Paul type guitar.
While the cutaway is slightly different, this guitar really
nails the 1956 Les Paul vibe.
It sounds amazing through an overdriven amp, and for the price
($225) it can't be beat. You can get Agile guitars from Rondo Music in Union,
New Jersey. These guitars have a great rep on Harmony Central
and other bulletin boards, and I think that it is richly
deserved.

Agile AL-3000 Goldtop--The 2500
was nice, but after about 10 months it developed a crack where
the headstock is spliced to the body. Kurt at Rondo was great,
and suggested that I could exchange the guitar. My wife and I
drove out to Rondo Music (which at the time was about 2 hours
away) and after I tried many guitars, she
insisted
that I upgrade to this one. The 3000 is a much better
guitar--the body is 2 pieces of mahogany instead of 3, and the
grain of the wood is nicer. This 3000 is also 1.5 pounds
lighter than my 2500, but your milage may vary. The neck is a single piece of mahogany,
and the ebony fretboard has lovely abalone inlays. The gold paint is nicer, and the fit
and finish is better overall. The pickup magnets are higher
quality (alnico vs. ceramic) and the guitar plays and sounds
like a dream. The more I played
this, the more I like it. Everyone should have a P-90
guitar. I recommend Agile. Unfortunately after I had back
surgery this 9.9 pound beast was just too uncomfortable to
play so I sold it to fund a new axe (see below).

Stinger STX Tele Copy--Once
again, my wife came through. When she mentioned that I could
have $200 for guitar stuff as a birthday present in 2007, I
began furiously crunching the numbers to see how I could get a
Telecaster type guitar on that budget. I had considered Squier
guitars (which are very nice) or SX (a budget line sold by
Rondo Music), but a couple of weeks before my birthday I went
into the local used instrument store and I saw this. Stinger
was an import line made for C.F. Martin back in the mid-80's
through early 90's. They were made in Korea, and shipped to Nazareth for final
setup. The STX (Tele model) was only made for the first
few years, so this is probably about 20 years old. It is in
pretty good shape, and the neck is super. The color is sort of a "Daphne Blue
to White Burst". It is unusual, but I like it. The hardware (including the Grover
tuners) is all black, including a no-name humbucker (with coil tap) at
the bridge. The guitar is routed for a single-coil at
the neck, and a humbucker at the bridge. I will probably
replace the humbucker someday, but the neck pickup sounds very
nice. This is my first real "used" guitar. I bought my Guild
used, but based on the serial number, it could only have been
used for a couple of weeks before I bought it in the Spring of
1993. Anyway, this will be a fun toy, and I look forward to
using it. And for $90, it was a
great buy. Thanks, sweetie! I upgraded it with GFS pickups in
February, and now it really sings. Here is a picture of the body now. I sold
this along with the AL-3000 to help fund the Telecaster (see
below).

Silver Creek T-160--After
being
without an acoustic guitar for a couple of years, I really
began to get the itch to have another one. We recently moved
to a house after living as boarding school dorm parents for 6
years, so it was ok to have a louder acoustic (I wouldn't
disturb anyone). I read about these
OOO sized guitars online--apparently Silver Creek is
Musician's Friend/Music 123's house brand. These guitars are
solid wood (with spruce tops
and mahogany backs and sides)
and built to the specs of 1930's era Martins, including a large pyramid volute on
the neck. The guitar plays very well, and LOVES open tunings.
It's a lot of fun, and considering that I got it new for $150,
I feel like I got the deal of the decade! Over the past
few years the guitar has sounded sweeter and sweeter--I think
it is true that solid wood acoustics improve with age.
Once I sanded down the bridge saddle the guitar became much
easier to play. I really like the big neck on this, but
apparently Musician's Friend also sold some with thinner neck
profiles later on prior to discontinuing the brand. I sold
this guitar in 2015--the bridge had begun to separate from the
top, and the guitar would not stay intonated, despite my
trying lots of different types of strings.

Xaviere
XV-840--By the end of 2012 I was getting a bit
frustrated with my guitar collection. The Stinger had
some electronic problems that I didn't want to deal with, and
following back surgery the Agile was too heavy for me to play
comfortably. A couple of days after Christmas, I saw
that GuitarFetish, an online parts and guitar retailer
announced
new
double-bound Telecasters, and my G.A.S. (Gear
Acquisition Syndrome) kicked into overdrive. Within days
I had sold the Stinger and the Agile, and used the proceeds to
purchase a Candy Apple Red Telecaster
Custom homage. I have had a thing for this combination
since I was a teenager, and with an entry price of $169, it
was hard to say no. The guitar is quite nice. The
rosewood fingerboard and satin finished neck are comfortable
(though the frets are quite narrow), and the neck has quite a bit of flame figuring.
The neck is slimmer than on my
Stratocaster, but it is not difficult to play at all.
Some people complain about the headstock,
but I find it attractive, if a bit long. The finish on
the body is lovely, though there are some blemishes under the
clear coat (but you'd have to be very close to see
them). The pickups sound good, and the electronics work
fine. I really feel that with a Strat,
a Tele and my Carvin, I have all the electric bases
covered now.

Amps

Peavey Audition 110--small, solid-state amp
with a fuzz channel. It had a nice sound, but it was small.

Peavey Audition 30--I upgraded to this
slightly larger, louder amp for college. In college I was in a
band called Bräinhämmer (we pretended to be German heavy
metal-ers), and I used this, the Audition 110 and a little 10
watt Fender Squier amp as a stack with my Epiphone. It looked
silly, but it sounded great.

Ampeg Jet--I bought this used in Boston. It was from the
60's, and had a pretty diamond pattern tolex covering. It
sounded okay, but it hummed (especially with the Strat
pickups), and had a terrible distorted sound. I had it for a
year, and eventually sold it at a pawn shop for $50 bucks or
so

Fender Princeton Chorus--This amp was really good. It had a
nice clean tone, and the distortion tone was quite variable.
It excelled at very distorted sounds, and was less good at
subtle, "tube like" distortion. Playing with my band, I found
it a little to small to play without being miked. I tried
using a Tech 21 Tri-O.D. pedal to boost it, but the speakers
couldn't handle the volume. The chorus sound from the amp was
very pretty, and it fed back in a very musical way.

Danelectro Nifty-Fifty--I got this as a small living room
amp that would look nice. It does. It also sounds okay when I
want to practice at home through an amp. It is surprisingly
loud, but the overdriven sound is awful. I gave it to a
friend.

Carvin
SX-50--I got it in the spring of 2002. This amp has a
powerful 12" speaker, some nice built-in digital effects, and
a very sweet distortion sound which is very easily
manipulatable from the volume knob of my guitar. Carvin's
customer service was wonderful fixing this amp after my house
was struck by lightning. It doesn't have an effects loop, but
for less than $300 it is very loud, and sounds great. I've
played this in a 300 seat hall, un-miked, in a band with bass,
drums, and two other electric guitarists with much larger
amps, and I never turned the volume over "4". Unfortunately,
the amp is not very reliable. The cheap plastic input jack
breaks frequently, and the digital effects only work
sporadically. I got a new jack from Carvin, but the effects
were still spotty, and the amp was very hissy. I eventually
sold this for $80 and used the proceeds to buy the VAMP-2
discussed below.

Behringer
GM110-- As part of my new plan to have a lightweight,
inexpensive rig, I adopted this new amp. It is Behringer's
clone of the Tech
21 Trademark 30 amp (just without reverb). It sounds
great, especially on the "Tweed" setting. Unlike the Carvin,
it really makes each guitar sound unique, and I have fallen in
love with my Strat again, since getting this little amp. It
has a single 10" speaker, and it is fairly loud. But unlike
the Carvin, it has an effects loop (for my RP-50 pedal to
provide reverb) and an XLR out, which would feed a mixer or PA
system. I've played gigs with this amp, and it has delivered.
In a bar setting, with an organ, drums and other guitarist,
this amp holds its own. And if it didn't, just a simple XLR
cable to the mixer would let me make this as loud as
necessary. It is unfortunate that these amps aren't sold in
the US anymore. I wish I'd bought a second one as a spare!
Unfortunately a change in jobs in 2015 required me to move
from a house to an apartment, at which point I purged myself
of lots of superfluous gear, including this amp.

Vox
Pathfinder
15r --While I love the Behringer, one sound that it
doesn't quite cop is a totally chimey one. Also, it lacks
built in reverb. In summer of 2010 I got this little guy, and
I am quite impressed. The Vox melds classic Vox style (note the cool
diamond grille cloth) with surprisingly loud sound in a
small package. It weighs half of the Behringer (17 pounds to
30 pounds) and the built in 8" speaker is (surprisingly) quite
loud. More impressive, though, is when I plug the line out of
the Vox into the power amp in of the Behringer. Then both
speakers are in play, and the volume increase is substantial.
Totally loud enough to gig, plus it can be miked or sent
direct to a mixer via the Behringer's XLR out. I'm pretty
pleased with this, and I think it
will be a keeper. For $119 new (much less if you use
Ebay like I did) this is a steal. I sold this in the great
gear purge of 2015.

Marshall Fifty
Split Channel Reverb--The Vox is an amazing amp, and
louder than you'd think, but it couldn't really hang the last
time I took it to a jam session. I found this at the
local used music gear store for $200 and my wife surprised me
with it. It was made in England, has two 12-inch speakers and
gets pretty loud. It is a solid-state version of the JCM
800 series. This one was made in 1987 (when I was in
high school!) and looks to be in
great shape. It also has an effects loop, so I can
use it as an extension cab for the Vox (which sounds awesome
through the bigger speakers). I really like having this, and I
have to confess that I think I have two really attractive amps
now, that look great with my
guitars.

Effects

Boss CE-3 Chorus--I had one of these for a
week in college, and didn't like it at all. I probably should
have spent more time learning its subtleties, but I traded it
in.

DOD Delay--Same deal as the chorus. I wanted a little
slapback type sound, and all I could get was David Gilmour
sounds. It was cool, but not what I wanted.

Scholz Rockman X100--My music teacher sold me this little
wonder and it was great. It only gave you one sound (Boston)
but it did it very well. I used it as a headphone practice
amp, and as a preamp on stage, until it finally bit the dust.
I would like to have one of these again, I think.

Korg A5 multieffctor--This unit had fewer presets and user
storage locations than other boxes, but it sounded great
(though noisy with my pre-Lace Sensor guitar). I gave this up
in 1993, in a decision I now regret.

Digitech RP-10--This machine could make all kind of neat
sounds, but in 2 years, I could never really figure them all
out. The reverbs alone had something like 10 parameters, and
it was almost impossible for me to get a good sound out of
this unit.

Tech 21 Tri-O.D.--This pedal was solidly built, and had a
wide range of sounds, but it didn't boost the Fender amp well
enough, so I sold it with the Fender.

Digitech RP-50--I
mostly used this pedal as a headphone amp when I didn't want
to disturb anyone. It was also reliable enough to use plugged
into the board in band situations. While it wasn't very
responsive to volume knob changes, the blackface and tweed
models are very good, and for $69, it was a great little unit.
It was like a more powerful Rockman, and I can use it as a
floor pedal or a wah-wah if I want to. For about three years I
kept it tucked in the back of my Behringer amp, where it was
plugged into the effects loop. The RP-50 provided reverb, as
well as a little volume boost which makes the tone much nicer.
I ultimately gave it to a student.

Behringer
GDI-21:This little blue box is an awesome ripoff
replica of the Tech
21 SansAmp GT2. Used in front of the Behringer amp, I
get channel switching, amazing gain and super tone from a $30
pedal. It is kind of noisy, and doesn't really do "clean"
sounds too well, but it is a very nice amp simulator/drive
pedal. Sold in the purge of 2015.

Behringer
VAMP-2: Continuing my affection for Behringer products
(see above and below) I got a brand new VAMP-2 from E-Bay for
$80. This is a very complex, deeply programmable amp modeler
and multi-effects box. It also comes with a footswitch, which
facilitates use in a live situation. Plugged into the effects
loop of my little Behringer amp, this unit puts out a MASSIVE
amount of sound. Highly recommended. Some of the tones (like
the one that combines a Roland JC-120 with a 100 Watt
Marshall) are really complex and realistic. When I used this
(plus the PB-100) at the blues jam, the tone was awesome. Big
Daddy Dex used my setup for the final set of the night when
his tube amp blew a fuse, and the sound was super. It is so
impressive what you can get for such little money these days!
Sold in the purge of 2015.

Behringer
PB-100
Preamp Booster: I picked this up for $15. It provides a
boost to the presets I've made on the VAMP-2. When I click on
the PB-100, everything gets a little louder, and a slight bit
overdriven, which makes it good for solo breaks. Sold in the
purge of 2015.

Joyo
British Sound: A $30 knock off of Tech 21's "British
Character Series" pedal, this provides a range of clean and
drive sounds plus tons of volume plus 3-band EQ. It sounds
great in the loop of my real Marshall, as well as in front of
all of my amps. Plus it has speaker simulation, and sounds
pretty nice as a headphone amp/analog amp for recording direct.
Joyo makes several other flavors, and at this price, everyone
should have at least one. Sold in the purge of 2015.

Seymour
Duncan Twin Tube:I turned some of the proceeds of the gear
purge of 2015 into this pedal. It provides something of a "dual
channel" approach to my live playing, and it also sounds very
good straight into the mixer. It's versatile and really has some
good sounds in it. I don't know if I'll keep it forever (look at
this page--I don't keep much!), but for now it's fun.

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